Ask an evolutionary biologist what his idea of the ultimate holiday is, and if it’s Professor Doug Robinson you are talking to, he will probably say; trudging the tracks of the Abel Tasman, listening for the call of the kākāriki.

When Project Janszoon got underway five years ago one of the first tasks was to find out more about the interior, so a team was despatched to look at the vegetation. Way up top, a single individual of a species never before seen in the park, a perching orchid called ‘little spotted moa’, Drymoanthus flavus, was found growing on the trunk of a hall’s totara. Read how Cyclone Gita, revealed another secret.

Can you get others engaged and active in supporting conservation? Are you keen to do your bit to protect New Zealand and encourage students and teachers to see the value of conservation and get involved?

We are looking for a committed and energetic person to provide input to the DOC/Project Janszoon education programme and help maintain and further develop school and student-group partnerships that promote conservation in Abel Tasman National Park.

Birds and snails in the upland areas of the park are going to enjoy two consecutive years of low rat numbers, thanks to last year’s aerial predator control.

Monitoring results show that, in August this year (nearly a year after the October aerial predator control operation), rats above 600m altitude were still tracking at less than 10%. Experts say this is a level below which native bird species will be largely relieved of predation pressure.

The eroded hills behind Anchorage and on Motuareronui Adele island are not what nature intended. What we should be seeing is a low forest of kanuka, along with hard and black beech. Instead, fire events over the last 200 years (sometimes planned, sometimes not) have left exposed ridgetops ripe for colonisation by introduced weeds like hakea. Restoration supervisor Helen Lindsay updates us on the beech planting project aiming to bring beech back to the hillsides.

Project Janszoon is delighted to launch two Abel Tasman “Toolboxes” designed to give locals, visitors and education providers access to expert advice, activities and helpful information about visiting the Abel Tasman National Park.

We were delighted to welcome 72 new pāteke at Hadfield Clearing on Thursday 3 May.

They were released on the banks of the lower Awapoto River, at Hadfield Clearing, near Awaroa. The translocation follows a successful release of 20 of the ducks by Project Janszoon and DOC last year. 90% of the ducks released in 2017 have survived their first year, with two pairs breeding and hatching 12 ducklings. There are only 2,500 pāteke left in the wild, mainly in the North Island.

Like a bloodhound, sniffing out an elusive prey DOC biodiversity ranger Steve Deverell has been out hunting. And the results of his efforts is good news for a rare species in the upper reaches of the Park. His prey? Native mistletoe. Until recently only 24 red mistletoe plants have been found at Moa Park and Canaan. Steve’s survey has doubled that to 50 plants – an indication the forest is recovering as a result of sustained pest control.

It has been a busy start to the year for our education team who report that students are really enthused about heading into the Park.

DOC education ranger Brooke Turner says Motueka High School has had a range of students studying in the Abel Tasman in term 1, including Design, Outdoor Education, Geography and Science classes. Some of the students are returning to the Park for their 2nd and 3rd years as part of their adopt-a-section classes.

As part of our series on place names in the Park author Dave Hansford takes a look at Hadfield Clearing and the family whose name Is forever entwined with it.

On January 21st, 2004, a strand in a 146-year bond was broken when Bill Hadfield passed away. The last of five generations to farm the Awapoto Valley, Bill came to the 790-hectare Golden Bay property in 1950; Bill came to the 790-hectare Golden Bay property in 1950; settled into the homestead where his grandfather William brought his bride Adele in 1878.

The objectives of Project Janszoon’s planting projects on the foreshore in Abel Tasman National Park are to reduce the fire risk to the national park and to help build resilience in native foreshore ecosystems. Some area of foreshore can be stable for long periods of time, but it is a dynamic ecosystem and will always be subject to damage in extreme weather events.